
Qass L_^iiL_ 

Book_ .3 7f 



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Our Republic —Liberty and Equality founded on Law. 



ORATION 



DERIVE REn BEFORE THE 



IN THE BOSTON THEATRE, 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION 
OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 



JULY 4, 18 81 



BY 



GEORGE WASHINGTON WAEREN, 



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Boston: 

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL, 
MDCCCLXXXI. 

INDEPENDENCE OF THE U.S. CVI. 






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CHURCHI LL* 
BOSTON.' 



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CITY OF BOSTOK 



In Board of Aldermen, July 5, 1881. 
Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be presented 
to the Hon. G. Washington Warren, for the very 
interesting Oration delivered by him before the Municipal 
authorities of Boston on the One Hundred and Fifth 
Anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence, 
and that he be requested to furnish a copy for publication. 

Passed. Sent down for concurrence. 

HUGH O'BEIEN, 

Chairman. 

In Common Council, July 7, 1881. 
Concurred. 

ANDREW J. BAILEY, 

President. 

Approved July 8, 1881. 

FREDERICK O. PRINCE, 

Mayor. 



REPLY. 

To His Honor Frederick O. Prince, 3Iayor, and the 
Gentlemen of the City Council of Boston : — 

In response to your courteous Resolution, I respectfully 
forward for your disposal a copy of my Oration, which was 
fully prepared during the latter part of last month ; the few 
changes occasioned by the horrid attempt, on the 2d inst., to 
murder the President of the United States, being marked 
to be printed in Italics. 

I only wish that tlie treatn^ent of my theme had been 
more powerful, and the moral of the history and basis of 
our Repuljlic more distinctly set fortli ; for among other 
lessons this can be drawn, that assassination and mob-rule 
can nowhere be the successful means of obtaining Liberty, 
which, indeed, can only be secured by a system of measures 
not repugnant to the Divine Law. May our beloved country 
ever continue to be an illustrious example of this principle. 

I have the honor to be, gentlemen, 

Your obedient servant, 

G. WASHINGTON WARREN. 

Boston, July 11, 1881. 



ORDER OF EXERCISES 



AT THE 



BOSTON THEATRE, 

JULY 4, 1881. 



o^^^c 



HIS HONOR MAYOR PRINCE, Prksiding. 

1. OVERTURE. Morning, Noon and Night .... Suppe 

Boston Cadet Band, J. Thomas Baldwin, Conductor. 

2. PRAYER. 

By Rev. Charles Pollen Lee. 

3. MUSIC. To Thee, O Country EicUerg 

4. READING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

By Master George Read Nutter. 

5. ODE. 

Sung by the Quartette of the First Church in Boston.* 

6. ORATION. 

By George Washington Warren. 

7. BENEDICTION. 

8. MUSIC Audran 



*Miss Annie Louise Gage, soprano; Mrs. Jennie M. Noyes, contralto; Mr. W. H. 
Fessenden, tenor; Mr. Clarence E. Hay, bass. The music composed by the late Elisha T. 
Coolidge, and arranged for the quartette by Mr. Arthur Foote. 




The civic exercises in observance of the Fourth of July 
took place in the Boston Theatre at 10 o'ch)ck. 

After an overture by the Boston Cadet Band, Rev. 
Charles Follen Lee, pastor of the First Universalist 
Church, Charlestown District, offered prayer as follows : — 



PRAYER. 

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, \^e look np 
to Thee as the source whence all our blessings flow, 
and praise Thee for Thy wonderful works unto the 
children of men. We believe that Thou reignest in 
heaven and on earth, and that our times are in Thy 
hand. Full of gratitude, then, for Thy loving favor, 
we rejoice in Thy mercies to us and to all men, al- 
though our hearts are heavy with a great national 
sorrow, and thank Thee for the numberless blessings 
which Thou hast showered upon us. We praise 
Thee that Thou hast endowed us with rational souls, 
and vouchsafed tuito us the high privilege of calling 



8 p: X E K C T S E s . 

ourselves Thy children. We thank Thee for the 
religion of Jesus Christ and for the comfort which it 
gives us in days of troul)le and sorrow. We thank 
Thee for our beloved country and the various institu- 
tions which make it so dear to our hearts. We 
glorify Thy name, that Thou didst guide our fathers 
over the sea and establish them on these shores; that 
Thou wast with them in the time of peril and need, 
and madest them to prevail in their struggle to be 
free, and that during all these years since our nation 
was founded Thou hast watched over and blessed 
this land, making it so i)rosperous and great. 

But, O God, we are sensilile of our ignorance and 
weakness; we can do nothing witiiout Thee; and 
therefore, confessing our sins both private and pubhc, 
and asking Thy forgiveness, we beseech Thee for the 
continuance of Thy favor. O God, be pleased to 
hear the prayers of Thy people as they pray for the 
life of the Chief Magistrate of this nation. Spare 
him in his extremity, that he may still rule over us. 
Comfort Thou his family — his aged mother, his de- 
voted wife, and his sorrowful children. Grant that 
their strength may be sufficient unto the hour of their 
trial. And if Thou takest him away in the flower of 
his manhood and the fulness of his fame, may we be 
able to bow in submission, and say. Thy will be 
done. Bless Thou the peojile of these United States. 
May ours ever be a free country, a Christian country, 
— one whose God is the Lord. Soften, we pray Thee, 
the asperities of sectional and party strife. May 
there be no IS^orth, no South, no East, and no West, 



JUL Y 4. 1S8 1 . 9 

but may the land be united in fraternity and love. 
May we remember that Thou hast made us bone of 
one bone, and flesh of one flesh, and that what Thou 
hast joined together man should not put asunder. 
Save us, good Lord, from war, violence, privy con- 
sjjiracy, sedition, and pestilence, and may the years to 
come be more glorious and peaceful than those which 
are past. May Thy fovor l3e with the Grovernor of 
this Connnon wealth, with the Mayor of this city, and 
with all who are placed over us in authority. May 
they discharge their duties in all fidelity. Bless him 
who is to speak to us, and endue him with grace from 
on high. Bless the whole world, and hasten the time 
when all men shall enjoy the blessings of peace and 
freedom. Imploring Thee that Thou wilt be with us 
throughout this day, which may have so much sorrow 
for us and for our country, we ascribe to Thee all 
might and glory in the name of the great Liberator 
of the ages. Amen. 



The Declaration of Independence was then read by Master 
George Read Nutter, of the graduating class of the Bos- 
ton Latin School. 

His Honor the Mayor then said : " The quartette from 
the First Church will now sing an Ode, composed by the 
distinguished orator of the day, and sung fifty years ago, on 
the celebration of the Anniversary of American Indepen- 
dence, July 4th, 1831, at New Bedford." 



10 E X E H C I S E S 



ODE. 

Survey the wide-spread land, 
And tell us where on earth 
There may be found a better band, 

Of more ennobling birth, 
Than they who breathe this liberal air, 
And all its blessed influence share. 

We pass the joyous days 

In liberty and love ; 
As free-born men, we lead our ways 

Stern slavery above : 
Each can enjoy his lawful own. 
His private thoughts, his social home. 

No royal hand points out 

The way that we shall go ; 
Oppression here builds no redoubt. 

In guise of friend or foe : 
But Freedom's soul, and Freedom's might. 
Commands our land, — upholds our right. 

' Tis Liberty's own soil ; 

Our fathers made it free 
From savage waste, from foreign spoil, 

A patriot land to be ; 
They hither fled in peace to live, 
Here fought their sons that boon to give. 

In stubborn strife 'gainst Avrong, 
Our blessings they secured ; 
Through troubled times, through labors long. 

They faithfully endured. 
Ere they could firmly fix their stand. 
And form a fair, unfettered band. 

Praise be their well-earned meed, 
The praise of free-born souls ; 

As long as fame of lofty deed 

Down years unnumbered rolls, 

America ! for thee is won 

Glory by many a noble son. 



J U L Y 4 , 1 8 8 1 . 11 

For those who struggle now, 

Far, far beyond the sea, 
God of our land ! to Thee we bow, 

Oh ! grant them victory ; 
Give them the spirit of our sires, 
To strive for right till life expires. 



When the Ode was sung, the Orator of the day, Hon. 
George Washington Warren, was introduced bj His 
Honor the Mayor, with a preface, in the following words : — 

Fellow Citizens, — This Anniversary of Ameri- 
can Independence, — this national holiday, — which 
should be an occasion of national joy and exultation, 
has become one of national sorrow and grief. All 
our millions of every section — north, south, east, 
west — are alike anxious and distressed, for any 
moment may bring the news of the death of our Presi- 
dent, who, as you all know, has been struck down by 
a wretch whom, for the enormity of his unprovoked 
and wanton crime, we might almost call a demon. He 
has not only assailed the Chief Magistrate of the 
country; but, through him, the whole American peo- 
ple, for the President, after an election, no longer 
represents a party, but becomes the exponent and 
executive of the whole nation. 

Our sympathies for the distinguished sufferer are 
too tender and deep for indulgence in those festivities • 
which have hitherto marked the observance of the 
day. They induce humiliation and prayer ; they incite 
us to invoke the Divine intercession that the life of 
our President may be spared to us, and, that in some 



12 EXERCISES. 

way, good may come to this afflicted people out of 
this terrible evil. 

As I know how anxiously you watch for the latest 
news from Washington, I have arranged that any 
bulletins which may come during the exercises shall 
be brought here, and I will announce them as they 
are received. [Immense applause.] 



Note. — Soon after the deliver}^ of the Oration was begun, it wa.s inter- 
rupted to permit the Mayor to read the gratifying despatch, to the effect, that 
the President's symptoms were declared to be more favorable, and that one 
of the attending physicians who before had been doubtful of the result, now 
expressed confidence in his ultimate recovery. This announcement was 
received by the large audience with loud and prolonged cheering; after 
wiiicli the oration was listened to with close attention. 



ORATION 



o>^c 



It is, indeed, Mr. Mayor, a high honor to stand 
in the line of the orators of Boston, and voice 
the common sentiment which this occasion in- 
spires. The UisriTED States oe America rejoices 
in her One Hnndred and Fifth Anniversary, 
worthy to be commemorated by all her people 
throughout her extended domain. As when in the 
time of some great national crisis the assembled 
multitude await anxiously the result, and the good 
news comes at last, a spontaneous shout is raised, 
and all join hands, strangers, friends, the es- 
tranged, alike; so on this return of Independence 
day, all political and personal animosities subside 
in the general joy which fills the air we breathe. 
Even while just now listening to the long historic 
list of grievances set forth in the Immortal Decla- 
ration, so eloquently read to-day, — an ever-ap- 
propriate part of the celebration, — we feel no re- 
sentment towards the memory of King George the 
Third; for we bear in mind his reception of John 



14 O R A T I N . 

Adams, as our first minister-plenipotentiary to his 
court, in June, 1785. "I was the last," said the 
king, in conchiding his reply to Mr. Adams' 
address, " to consent to the separation ; but the 
separation having been made, and having become 
inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that 
I would be the first to meet the friendship of 
the United States as an independent power ; " and 
such, for the most part, has been the feeling of 
his successors of his own blood on the British 
throne to this hour. And ahvays in Queen Vic- 
toria's cosmopolitan capital, — bear Avitness the 
memory of George Peabody, — in charming Paris, 
and in all the principal cities of continental 
Europe, of the great Orient also, as well as of 
the isles of the sea, — wherever two or three 
Americans are brought together, there is this day 
well remembered, and there to-day is a fervent 
pra.yer offered that the life of the President 7nay he 
preserved. The boundless Ocean, as yet unconscious 
of this great shock on Earth, amid its incessant roar, 
hears now the resounding cannon, numbering the 
stars of our great republic, as our ships ride the 
billowy waves, streaming in their holiday attire and 
playing the inspiring notes of our national airs. 
^o other countr}^ imder heaven has so stamped on 
the world's calendar for the past century, and for 



J U L Y 4 , 1 8 8 1 . lo 

centuries to coine, its distinctive day, like our oWn 
gladsome and glorious Fourth of July. 

Boston, which did so much towards the malring 
of the day, has been the most constant of all in 
its patriotic commemoration. Beginning in 1783, 
before the treaty of peace with the mother-country, 
there have been, including the present, under the 
auspices of the municipal authorities, ninety-nine 
celebrations, l^o gap has been made by foreign 
war or civil discord, by adverse times or party 
feuds; whatever clouds have flitted across the sky, 
she has cast aside all gloom, and, robing herself 
in the flag of her country, she has hailed this 
day of jubilee with signal tokens of rejoicing. 
On this day she makes all her children happy, 
and in seeing their smiles and sports we all are 
young again. 

Let us picture to ourselves the scene of the 
proclamation of the Declaration of Independence, in 
Boston, on the 18th of July, 1776. The news of 
the event must have reached Boston several days 
before; but it took a fortnight in those slow- 
moving times before the full text of the precious 
document could arrive and due notice of its proc- 
lamation be made. It was not read at the head 
of the army in Kew York till the 9th of July. 
The Town House — which we now call the Old 



^ 



16 <)Kv\TI()^■. 

State House — was not then connected with the 
web of wires in the basement and roof, stretch- 
ing through the air to such tllen unknown cities 
as Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington, and San Fran- 
cisco, hke a harp's thousand strings, whose play 
now electrifies a continent. The king's arms were 
the most conspicuous thing on the building. The 
day appointed was Thursday, immediately after the 
Thursday Lecture at the First Church, nearly op- 
posite, on the site where is to be the new Rogers 
Building. As they came out from the lecture, 
which probably had some reference to the great 
•event, whether it was preached by Dr. Chauncy, 
or one of his brother ministers, the people took 
position in King's street, as it was then called, 
where two regiments and a detachment of artillery 
were already posted in lines. The people had 
flocked in also from the neighboring towns. The 
Council Chamber was crowded with the councillors, 
representatives, magistrates, ministers, and distin- 
guished citizens. It was just four months and a day 
since the British troops had evacuated the town, 
with the American loyalists, who had not given 
up the hope to return to their homes, under the 
old regune reestablished. Washington had with- 
drawn the main part of his army. Imagine the 
feelings of suspense and agitation with which that 



JULY4,1881. 17 

assembly heard that Declaration read by Col. Crafts 
from the eastern balcony, as distinctly and feel- 
ingly as we have heard it read to-day. The 
words were then new; they were eagerly canght 
up and sank deep to the heart of the listening 
crowd: those new and noble ideas, the equality of 
birth, their right to liberty, self-government, the 
throwing off their allegiance upon justifiable cause 
fully set forth, and, more than all, the solemn 
determination of the United Colonies, taking the 
new name of the United States of America, that 
they would stand together and henceforth before 
the world be an independent nation, — these made 
them feel intensely the importance and the glory 
of the act that had been perfonned. When the 
reading was finished, James Bowdoin, President 
of the Council, afterwards Governor, cries out: 
" God bless the American States ! " Salvoes of thir- 
teen guns were fired from Fort Hill, the Castle, 
Dorchester I*^eck, ^Nantasket, and Point Allerton, 
and from the shipping in the harbor. Then the 
artillery, and, lastly, the regiments in the street, 
fired in separate detachments thirteen volleys, — 
making that number an historic number to all 
Americans. The king's arms were taken from the 
building, and every semblance of royal authority 
disappeared. Boston, with its whole neighborhood, 



18 ORATION. 

felt then as joyous and as confident as she does 
to-day, that she was no uncommon part of the 
new American Union. With every century the 
interest of association attached to that building 
will increase. Friends of liberty from other coun- 
tries will demand to see it. Let any who please 
tear down the houses where they were born and 
build greater, — but let this stand forever. 

A few years since there arose a controversy among 
eminent historic writers as to the church from which 
the signal lanterns were displayed, by the order of 
Paul Revere, on the night of the 18th of April, 1775, 
to warn the country of the march of the British troops 
to Lexington and Concord, — whether it was the 
tower of the existing Christ Church in Salem street, or 
that of the Old IS^orth Meeting-house on ISTorth square, 
long since demolished. By a fair preponderance of 
testimony, as well as by well-supported tradition, it 
has been settled in favor of the former, where a tablet 
with a felicitous inscription has been placed by the 
City Council. But we trust the day will never come 
when there shall be any doubt or question as to 
where was the Old South meeting-house; but that 
it will be in its place, an ever-present memorial. 
Standing in the very heart of the city's great thor- 
oughfare named after the Father of his Country, on 
the spot where Winthrop lived and Franklin was 



J FLY 4, 188 1. 19 

baptized, with its tower fortunately projecting into 
the .sidewalk so that, as we approach it from the 
south, we have a fine monumental appearance, with 
steeple, spire and dial, the cherished familiar object 
from childhood to age, it is, in fact, the best-pre- 
served memorial building in its identity which Boston 
or Massachusetts can show. It seems strange now to 
be told that, in the eloquent, fiery days of the Revo- 
lution, whenever there was an overcrowded meeting 
at Faneuil Hall, it would be adjourned to the " Old 
South," the use of which was always kindly granted 
by the patriotic society to whom it belonged. But, 
at that tune, Faneuil Hall was but half of its present 
size, it having since been made eighty instead of 
forty feet wide. Hence, the Old South became in 
truth the people's meeting-house on great and 
solemn occasions. 

Those walls and the ceiling have enclosed always 
the same space ; within them yet linger the slumber- 
ing echoes of the undying speech of our fathers. 
Preserved by Providence from the awful conflagra- 
tion of 1872, and rescued by a fortunate chain of 
events from being torn down by human hands when 
the venerable society established their new house of 
worship in the newly-inhabited part of the town, it 
will be cherished by posterity with the grateful re- 
membrance of the patriotic voluntary Association, ■ 



20 ORATION. 

sustained chiefly by A\()man's aid and efl^'orts, which 
now hibors to save it for them. Shonhl it he needed, 
the City Council might well invest a portion of the 
large rents, expected from the proposed lease of 
the Old State House, in the large mortgage which 
remains to be lifted. When the thirty years from 
1876 shall expire, — during which it was thought 
necessary to impose a restriction forbidding the use 
of the building on Sundays or for religious purposes, 
— whoever shall first perform before the next gen- 
eration the religious rites in this consecrated building 
might begin with the words of the Psalmist, " Praise 
WAITETH for Thee, O God, in Zion, and unto Thee 
shall the vow be performed." 

His Excellency Governor Loxg, in his classic ad- 
dress delivered on Memorial Day, our new legal holi- 
day, enumerated the monuments and statues which 
already adorn this city and vicinity in commemo- 
ration of great events and great men, with high com- 
mendation of their lofty purpose. Since then the 
late anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, which 
ought also to be a legal holiday, was signally cele- 
brated by the inauguration of the statue of Col. 
William Prescott, whose I'enown has been con- 
summated in this long-delayed testimonial by the 
transcendent merit of the sculptor and the orator, 
who both joined in bringing his heroic form back to 



J IT L y 4 , 1 « 8 1 . 21 

Bunker Hill. The scene recalled the memorable oc- 
casion, twenty-four years ago, when Everett was 
with us to present on the same immortal field the 
marble image of the thrice-buried martyr of the Revo- 
lution. The Bunker Hill Monmnent, at whose base 
these statues stand, is the greatest prize of Boston in 
the annexations which have added to her importance. 
As we approach the Charlestown District, on enter- 
ing either of the bridges which span the mouth of 
the Charles, w^e can behold the whole majestic obe- 
lisk with its grand proportions tapering to the sky. 
But this magnificent view is given over very valuable 
private property, and may at any time be intercepted. 
On entering Charlestown, the object, which pre- 
sents so fine an appearance from afar, becomes more 
and more obscured the nearer we come to it. Its 
natural efiect, indeed, is lost, and so a great part of 
the patriotic design of the former generation in erect- 
ing it is almost frustrated by its being covered with a 
cluster of surrounding buildings upon the circuit- 
ous streets. It should be the immediate aim of the 
city to open up a direct avenue to its grandeur, 
so that, uncovered, it may crown the peninsula which 
was baptized in the fire of the Revolution, and that 
" labor may look up to it and be proud in the midst 
of its toil." 

The City of Boston, in its extended territory, its 



22 R A T T () N . 

increase of population and wealth, its enterprise and 
culture, may be said to be typical of the growth and 
prosperity of the United States. The annual expen- 
ditures of the city, for which treasury warrants are 
drawn by Your Honor, are as large as were those of 
the nation under the administration of Washington. 
The postage receipts collected by our excellent post- 
master, Mr. Tobey, exceed those which were annually 
paid to Samuel Osgood, of Massachusetts, the first 
Postmaster-General. It may be added, also, with 
equal municipal and national pride, that the financial 
credit of each to-day stands as high as that of any 
nation or municipality in the world. In its govern- 
ment also, Boston, like our other cities, is a miniature 
republic. In fact, in City, State, and x^ation, there 
is precisely the same uniform system of administra- 
tion. This combined movement may be likened to 
the three hands of a clock, each revolving in its reg- 
ular round. The second-hand has no occasion to say 
to the minute-hand, nor has the latter to say to the 
hour-hand, " Keep within your own limits and do not 
crowd upon me ; " for they are so constituted that they 
move each in its- own appropriate sphere, but keep- 
ing time together, and together marking the progress 
of the age. 

If, however, there should be a popular apprehen- 
sion that the sessions of the Legislature, oi* of Con- 



J LT L Y 4 , ] 8 8 1 . 23 

gress, are too long, and if a called special session of 
either should cause some anxiety, the reverse would 
be the case should the City Council suspend their 
sessions for three or four months. The municipal 
care and protection come so near to our own homes 
and daily wants, that their constant watch is desired ; 
while the Congress and the Legislature having the 
power to change the general laws, affecting all trans- 
actions of business, keep the community on the 
stretch of anxiety until their sessions are over. It is 
thought that the omission to call a special session of 
Congress at this time, to provide for the payment of 
bonds falling due in the interim, the Treasury Depart- 
ment having wisely secured a voluntary agreement 
for their extension, at the reduced rate of interest, 
gave the country as much relief as, reckoned in 
money, would equal the amount of interest saved 
on that part of the national loan, which has been 
extended at the pleasure of the government. The 
special session of the Senate, necessary to a new 
administration, seems to have been sufficient. 

In the beginning of the republic, the old thirteen 
States which joined in the Declaration of Independ- 
ence formed new State Constitutions, setting aside 
their Royal Charters, being so advised by the Conti- 
nental Congress. I*^ine States adopted theirs in 1776, 
:N'ew York in 1777, and Massachusetts in 1780. 



24 ORATION. 

That of the latter was, in some respects, of a superior 
order, and became a model for that of the United 
States, formed seven years afterward. 

Its well-defined demarcation of the three coordi- 
nate branches of the government, the executive, 
legislative and judicial; the tenure of judges during 
good behavior; the provisioits for the University at 
Cambridge, and for the general encouragement of 
learning ; its Bill of Rights, adhering to and devel- 
oping the principles of the Declai'ation of Independ- 
ence — gave to Massachusetts substantially the same 
form of government she now has. Franklin was 
consulted in the framework; Hancock, Bowdoin, 
Samuel Adams, and many other Boston men, assisted 
in putting it together; for then, as now, her leading 
men became also prominent, in tui'n, in the councils 
of the State and the ."N^ation. 

There was great dissatisfaction in the latter days of 
the colonial government, because the King's ministers 
proposed to fix and pay the salaries of the Royal 
Governors and Judges, in order that they might 
become more subservient to the mandates of the 
Crown. In framing the State Constitution, there- 
fore, the fathers of Massachusetts intended that these 
important officers should be made as independent, in 
their position and circumstances, as the lot of hu- 
manity would permit, — so that there might always 



J U L Y 4 , 1 8 8 1 . 25 

be not only good laws, bnt an impartial interpretation 
and a faithful execution of them, "that every man 
may, at all times, find his security in them." In the 
dark days of 1780, when the national independence 
had not been fully achieved, the great war pending, 
the people's resources being limited and the times 
straitened, this was the wonderful and wise founda- 
tion laid for the permanence and prosperity of the 
State : — 

As the jjublic good requires that the governor should not be 
under the vuidue influence of any of the members of the general court, 
by a dependence on them for his support, — that he should, in all cases, 
act with freedom for the benefit of the public, — that he should not have 
his attention necessarily diverted from that object to his private con- 
cerns, — and that he should maintain the dignity of the Commonwealth 
in the chai^acter of its chief magistrate, — it is necessary that he should 
have an honorable stated salary, of a fixed and permanent value, amply 
sufficient for those purposes, and established by standing laws : and it 
shall be among the first acts of the general court, after the commence- 
ment of this constitution, to establish such salary by law accordingly. 

Permanent and honorable salaries shall also be established by law 
for the justices of the supreme judicial court. 

And if it shall be found, that any of the salaries aforesaid, so estab- 
lished, are insufficient, they shall, from time to time, be enlarged, as 
the general court shall judge proper. 

It will be seen that it was designed that the future 
governors should have, as a matter of constitutional 
right, an honorable support from the public treasury, 
for themselves and their families, whether they had 



26 ORATION. 

ample private resources, or whether, like Samuel 
Adams, they were poor. In either case they were to 
be enabled to maintain, in their living, the dignity of 
the Commonwealth. It was not intended that the 
Legislature, with the assent or at the suggestion of 
the governor for the time being, should reduce the 
salary below the constitutional standard; but it is 
ever bound from time to time to inquire as to the 
salaries paid to officers in other administrative 
offices, and as to the expenses of maintaining a 
family in the capital in a manner befitting this high 
office, and then to raise the governor's salary to that 
point without regard to the means of the incumbent. 
The ablest man, though poor, was not to decline to 
serve. 

A look at the statue of Governor Winthrop, in his 
elegant costume, gives some idea of the stress and 
importance placed upon official dignity when he 
landed here, bringing the royal charter. Though 
fashions have since changed, the new demands of 
our day call for increased expenditure in honorable 
living of another character. 

In 1859, it was proposed by Governor Banks 
that the Commonwealth should purchase the sightly 
residence where Governor Hancock lived, which 
might be set apart for the executive mansion; but 
the opportunity passed, and can never be recalled. 



J U L Y 4 , 1 8 8 1 . 27 

The Supreme Judicial Court was, at that time, the 
only State court, and therefore it was named in the 
constitution; it continued to perform all the judicial 
duties above those of the county magistrates and 
justices' courts for forty years. In 1820, the Court 
of Common Pleas was established, upon which was 
devolved concurrent jurisdiction over the most part 
of the business of the Supreme Court. This con- 
tinued until 1859, when the present Superior Court 
was established. In this view it would seem that 
these latter courts were within the meaning of this 
constitutional provision, as they were successively 
created to discharge duties which had been assigned 
to the Supreme Court, and that consequently their 
salaries should be enlarged from time to time when 
circumstances required, but never reduced. At any 
rate the reduction of the salaries of judges appointed 
during good behavior would seem to be a breach of 
an implied contract on behalf of the State. 

It is well known that the executive has often found 
it difficult to supply the places in all these courts, as 
they became vacant. Many would decline the honor, 
in the feeling that their duty to their families forbade 
their relinquishing a lucrative profession for the 
bench, the emoluments of which would scarcely afford 
a present livelihood. Several of those who did ac- 
cept the position, through the solicitation of friends, 



28 ORATION. 

felt obliged, after a time, to al)aiidoii it, from the in- 
adequate remuneration. Of the whole number of 
judges who have deceased, not half died in office. 
Those who continued on the bench and gave their 
whole life, from the time of their appointment, to 
this high service, did it at great personal sacrifice. 
But that rate of compensation which does not secure 
the desired permanency of the judiciary in office, can- 
not be said to be adequate or honorable. 

Mr. Webster, while engaged in an important cause 
before Mr. Justice Allen, in the Court of Common 
Pleas, — afterwards Chief Justice of the Superior 
Court, — said, in reference to him, " I have the 
highest respect for any man who wall faithfully 
perform the duties of a judge; and the people are 
hardly aware how much they are indebted for their 
security and prosperity to an impartial administra- 
tion of the laws." All observers and thinkers will 
agree in this opinion. The judges hold up, and 
the longer in the same hands the surer, the scales 
of justice between man and man, and between the 
State and the accused. They enunciate the prin- 
ciples upon which the wheels of business and 
social order move; they are the recourse of con- 
flicting parties, and the guide of the active world. 
In their quiet and regular round of laborious service 
they attract but little popular attention compared 



JTLY 4, ISSl. 29 

with those who are in more conspicuous places. 
The courts of justice are hke the unnoticed foun- 
tains and hidden springs which supply the streams 
which, flowing in every direction, invigorate the 
soil and cause the earth to put forth its increase. 
During the last hundred years no stain has heen 
cast upon the judicial ermine of our State courts, 
nor scarcely a breath of suspicion, or a suggestion 
of bias or intentional error. It must be confessed 
that they have certainly on their part come up to 
the constitutional requirement in this regard, so that 
the subject has obtained "right and justice freely, 
and without being obliged to purchase it; com- 
pletely, and without any denial; promptly, and 
without delay, conformably to the laws." Let the 
people see to it that their obligation is fully per- 
formed on the part of the State. The judicial 
branch, both in the State and the I^ation, is the 
weakest part in the government, because* it must 
rely, under the Constitution, on the Legislature 
for its organization and liberal suppoit; but it 
imparts to the State the requisite moral strength 
and security. 

The Court of Common Pleas and Superior 
Court have fiu'nished judges to the Supreme Ju- 
dicial Court, while the latter has given Govern- 
ors to the Commonwealth and cabinet officers to 



30 ORATION. 

the ]!^ation, and its decisions are referred to as high 
authority in the courts of the United States and 
Great Britain. 

Great respect is ever shown by the people in 
attendance before the State Courts, and before 
local magistrates. This is not constrained, but 
comes as a voluntary tribute to the majesty of 
the law. Instances are rare, indeed, when pun- 
ishments are imposed for contempt of court. 

A judge of one of the Boston courts, being in 
London, was one day invited by the Lord Mayor 
to sit with him in his court. "In what costume 
does Your Worship sit in your court? " inquired 
the Lord Mayor, who was fairly disguised in his 
overhanging wig and flowing gown and other 
trajjpings, so that the person could not have rec- 
ognized him afterwards in his ordinary attire. 
" The same I now wear," was the reply. " And 
how is your authority respected? " he asked, in 
surprise. "Precisely as here in Your Worship's 
court," was the answer. The Lord Mayor was 
astonished; for, by the customs and traditions of 
his country, he seemed to rely upon his big wig 
and gown for his authority, rather than upon his 
office. The people before him probably thought as 
he did about it, having been brought up to honor 
the showy insignia more than the magistrate. 



JULY 4, 188 1. 31 

l^ot only in Massachusetts, but throughout our 
whole country also, there is uncommon respect 
paid to the authority of law. In the courts of 
the United States, and of the several States, 
though variously constituted, justice has been as 
well administered as in any other part of the 
globe. The decisions of these tribunals on im- 
portant and novel issues have added lustre to the 
great science of jurisprudence. It is this univer- 
sal acquiescence in the courts on the part of the 
executive and legislative branches of the national 
and State governments, as well as on the part of 
the people, making these tribunals the great and 
final arbiter between all contending parties, that 
has made our beloved America preeminently the 
land of liberty. For in social communities there 
can be no certain liberty where there is not a fair 
interpretation and administration of the law. 

This feeling of loyal submission originates with 
us in the family, and is carried on in the school, 
in the church, and in divers philanthropic organi- 
zations which spring up as circumstances demand. 
As the seed is caught up in the air and deposited 
and grown in other fields far beyond, so the 
heaven-born principles of law and order are dis- 
seminated from region to region until the whole 
land is overspread. 



32 ORATION. 

In our early history serious apprehensions .were 
felt about the acquisition of Florida, of Louisiana, 
and, later, of Texas; but the result proved so bene- 
ficial and natural, that California and Isew Mexico 
were afterwards added without opposition, and 
even with a joyous welcome, and our law and its 
free institutions spread over them all, as waters 
cover the sea. 

So it has come to pass that this natural growth 
and consolidation proved too coherent for dis- 
integration. As the municipalities make up the 
States, so the States, with vast territories for future 
States, compose, not a Federal Union in the sense 
of a temporary copartnership to be dissolved at 
pleasure, but one grand, indissoluble Nation. This 
has been decided by that awful and stupendous 
trial, before the world as spectator, that last resort 
of kings and of peoples, — alas! that it should ever 
have been found necessary — the trial by battle — 
waged upon the unfortunate metaphysical southern 
heresy, that we were one people, and yet somehow 
we were not one people. But, in the nature of 
things, the result could not have been different. 
God and nature have bound and knit us together. 
Our national government, superinduced, in some 
form, years before the Declaration of Independence, 
to repel a common danger, working ever since 



J FLY \, ) S S 1 . 88 

harmoniously with the governments of States and 
of cities and towns, all guided by well-adapted and 
constantly developing principles of municipal and 
constitutional law, like as the veins and arteries, 
the muscles and sinews compose the human sys- 
tem, appears at last one herculean body politic, 
with its scars of a war in its members cured, and 
its arms extending from sea to sea, willing to re- 
ceive all loyal accessions, and able to defend itself 
against all aggressors. 

Montesquieu, in his "De L'Esprit des Lois," 
says, "If a republic is small, it is destroyed by a 
foreign power; if it is large, it is destroyed by in- 
ternal disorder." This celebrated work first ap- 
peared in 1748, and at that time history may have 
well borne out his assertion. But since then the 
rise, growth, and recent self-j)reservation of our 
republic have disproved it utterly. 

Were there time it would be well to glance at 
the great amelioration of the law during the cen- 
tury. The common law of England, the growth 
of many centuries, still stands with us, except 
when repealed or modified. The statutes of this 
Commonwealth, now undergoing a third revision, 
form a body of laws so distinct, clear, and com- 
prehensible, that he who runs may read, and per- 
haps the guilty who read may wish to run. 



;i4 < > H A T J D X . 

There remains one little phrase, however, which 
smacks of the barbarism of the feudal ages. Per- 
haps there are no other half-dozen words in the 
English language so stern and cruel as those which 
appear in our writs of attachment of estates : 
"For want thereof take the body." Although the 
provisions of our law for imprisonment for debt 
have been much ameliorated, still they hnpose 
cumbrous conditions upon the honest, unfortunate 
poor. That odious phrase should be exj^unged 
from civil proceedings, leaving to the cruninal 
courts to punish fraudulent practices. In the main, 
however, our laws, in their wisdom, humanity and 
adaptability to the complex affairs of our time, 
are not inferior to those of the most enlightened 
nations. 

Our fathers founded the incipient republic upon 
the rock of the Christian religion. They brought 
with them the Bible, which had been recently 
translated by a commission appointed by James 
I., and had not long been in common use. For 
many years in Massachusetts the support of re- 
ligious worship) was provided for at the town 
meetmg; and by its constitution every one's 
estate was taxed therefor, the citizen having the 
right to designate the religious society to whose 
benefit his tax should accrue. So our State con- 



JULY 4 , 1881. 35 

stitution stood in this regard until forty-eight 
years , ago, when, in November, 1833, Article XT. 
of the Amendments was substituted, which, rec- 
ognizing public worship and religious instruction 
as promoting "the happiness and prosperity of a 
people and the security of a republican govern- 
ment," absolved the citizen from his legal obli- 
gation to contribute thereto. This change in our 
fundamental law was regarded with great alarm. 
It could not have received general favor from 
the preceding generation, who were justly shocked 
at the spread of infidelity and its train of evils 
in France during her revolution. But, adopted 
when it was, after a long continuance of the 
people in the conservative course of religious in- 
struction enforced by law, and after the success- 
ful experiment of the growing republic for more 
than half a century in the harmonious co-work- 
ing of the national, state, and municipal systems, 
its consequences have not been detrimental. The 
amount voluntarily paid for the support of pub- 
lic worship has been much larger than any tax 
that could have been levied; while money has 
been most freely contributed for the preaching of 
the Gospel in the newly settled parts of the 
country. 

An ultra tendency has lately been manifested 



36 <"> R A T ION. 

in the opposite direction. Instead of the State 
anthorizing a tax for the support of the Church 
in its various sects, according to the views of 
the citizens, it has been proposed to levy a tax 
upon all the j)i'operty held bv the Church for 
religious uses for the support of the State. This 
has been urged by two very different classes, — 
one frankly declaring that they do not believe in 
religious worship and ordinances, and that they 
ought not indirectly, even, to the least appreciable 
extent, to be taxed on its account; and the other 
class, belonging to those denominations whose 
houses of worship and other property do not 
come up to the average standard in cost, and 
whose proportionate part of this proposed tax 
would be so small that it Avould be an ad- 
vantage to their private estates if it were levied. 
Such a tax would be wrong in principle, and 
would conflict with the spirit of the constitution 
as it is. All, in fact, that the State grants an 
immunity upon is the land on which the church 
buildings and other property stand; all that is 
built or placed upon it comes, or is to come when 
paid for, as a voluntary offering from devoted citi- 
zens. Tax them for this, and one high resource 
for art and aesthetic culture would be cut off. 
Besides, it would be rendering tribute to the State 



J I' L Y 4 . 1 8 8 1 . 37 

for what is not the State's, but is dedicated to 
God. 

The great event of the time, in its moral aspects, 
is the appearance of the new version of the 'New 
Testament, under the auspices of various denomina- 
tions in England and America. This is an admission 
that the vernacular text of the old version is not in- 
fallible. It, therefore, should supply a rule of con- 
duct as to the use of the Bible in the public schools 
throughout our country. The late Bishop Fitz- 
patrick, whose learning, piety and zeal for repub- 
lican principles we all knew, in a published letter on 
this head, exj)lained the views of those of his belief 
as to the alleged inaccuracies of the old version. 
Other sects allege other inaccuracies, which they 
say endanger the muniments of their respective 
creeds. When we bear in mind that Jesus Christ, 
in promulgating his gospel on earth, gave his in- 
struction orally, not having been known to write or 
dictate a word; that he inculcated the spirit of the 
idea, and not the written letter; that he consolidated 
— so to speak reverently -^ the Decalogue and the 
whole moral law into two Commandments, which 
any child can remember, — the supreme love of God, 
and the love of one's neighbor as one's self, — telling 
afterwards, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, 
what he meant by neighbor, — it would seem that. 



38 OKA T ION. 

under the concession which this new version implies, 
by common consent throughout our country, the 
reading of all disputed original texts, and all contro- 
verted translations of passages upon which denomi- 
nations divide, should be omitted in the school-room. 

It is the paramount interest of the whole church 
and of the republic that there should be a co-educa- 
tion of all the children in the public schools, estab- 
lished on the most liberal foundations, so that the 
rising generations may be saved from the horrors of 
scepticism, and that the miserable fashion of unbelief 
shall not cast its blight on the flower and promise of 
the land. For it is Christianity which has ever given 
a tone and character to our laws, and these consti- 
tute the essential framework and being of the re- 
public. 

Various customs our fathers brought from Mother 
England. The only popular elections affecting the 
British government are for members of the House of 
Commons; the seats in the upper House of Parlia- 
ment, the House of Lords, as well as the Crown 
itself, falling by hereditary descent, according to her 
law of primogeniture. As Parliament may be con- 
tinued for seven years, these popular elections, so far 
as the suffrage is extended to the people, are a rare 
event as compared with us. It is the custom there 
for candidates to propose themselves to the voters, 



J r L Y ' 4 , 18 8 1. ;^9 

and solicit their sufirages; and they generally pay 
the large election expenses, which are sometimes 
very heavy, amounting, as it is stated, in certain in- 
stances, to a hundred thousand dollars. There being- 
no compensation to a member of Parliament unless 
he is an officer in the ministry, his motive or reward 
is fame, great influence, and, perhaps, the hope of 
obtaining a peerage as a reward for eminent service 
or useful leadership. For, though in England there 
is boasted liberty, there is no' equality, — it is subor- 
dination to rank which constitutes her chief glory. 

As our elections are frequent, occurring at stated 
periods, and the elective offices in the JSTation and 
State are numerous and various, it is obvious that 
the English system cannot be here continued with- 
out much more hazard to our institutions than is ex- 
perienced in England. If, by consent of all good 
men, a system could be ado23ted by which the popular 
will could be ascertained in the most economical 
manner, the greatest peril of our time would be 
averted. For, whether the money employed in the 
conduct of elections and the influencing the voters 
be paid out of the public treasury or from private 
means, it is a drain upon the resources of the people; 
and if the expenditure be wrongful or extravagant it 
is equally a waste, as well as a source of demorali- 
zation. 



iO O R A T T O X . 

There Avoiild be a great saving in one large item 
— the printing of the ballots — if that were bj law 
required to be done by the State or municipal officers 
at the public exj)ense, they being required to furnish 
the ballots called for by the committee of any known 
party organization. All abduction or destruction of 
such tickets should be j)unished bj suitable penalties. 

Another item of cost of our elections is the 
rallying or getting the voters out. One would 
suppose that citizens generally Avould so highly 
value their privilege that they would go to the 
so-called meetings of their own accord, and would 
not need to be got out at others' expense. They 
should be, like jurors, required by law to vote, 
as town officers were required to serve unless 
excused. 

In former times there were real town-meetings 
where there was a discussion and transaction of 
business after debate, and at the same time the 
voting for elective officers. But now, especially 
in cities, the citizens are called to meet at their 
precincts, on no other business except simply to 
deposit their ballots, which are afterwards required 
to be sealed up in a box and sent with the re- 
turn to the examining board. 

It would save much trouble to the voter, if, 
when served with the notice of the election, he 



J U L Y 4 , 1 8 8 1 . 41 

had also sent to him, m proper legalized form, 
a stamped envelope, in which he might send his 
vote by mail, with his signature and exact home 
address, to the Board of Registrars. These votes 
might be numbered and put on permanent file, 
or bound in volumes; their authenticity, if dis- 
puted, could be readily verified at any time, and 
there could be no mistake in the count. In France 
the voter signs his name at the registration, and 
he signs the vote he gives. Voting in this manner 
would be a domestic and a more deliberate act, 
if every voter endorsed his vote, while at the 
same time his independence would be assured, as 
no one would outrage public sentiment by pun- 
ishing an independent voter. 

In the English universities, which have the 
right to send one or more members to the House 
of Commons, the constituents are scattered all 
over the country and the world. So they send 
by mail powers of attorney, duly verified, author- 
izing some one at the polls to cast the vote 
therein designated for them. Of course they 
might as well be. allowed to send their votes direct 
to the officers appointed to receive them. 

The graduates of Harvard University qualified 
to vote for overseers send to the standing com- 
mittee their nominations over their own signature by 



42 O R A T ION. 

letter, — a superior method to that of the Caucus. 
It would be an imj^rovement if, at the real elec- 
tion, they could vote in this way, as there would 
always be a fuller expression of the voice of the 
electors, the vote by mail being al^out twice as 
large as the legal vote. 

We claim the right to know how our repre- 
sentatives vote in the deliberative assembly. We 
have an equal interest to know for whom our 
fellow-citizens vote, as it is, or should be, the 
common desire of us all to elect the best and 
fittest men. Open voting, or the backing of the 
vote, would give a manly independence to the 
citizen and a safeguard to the public. 

The archaeologist of the twenty-first century, 
in studying the character of this present genera- 
tion by its statutes, in coming upon "An Act to 
aid in the preservation of order in elections," 
passed in 1881, will be at loss to know the 
reason for it, until he shall look back two years, 
when he will conclude that he has found the 
explanation, — that the statute of 1881 required the 
voting-places to be kept cleanly and orderly, free 
from smoking and drinking, in order to prepare 
for the advent of women at the polls, to look 
after the control of our public schools. The ex- 
tension of female suffrage lies in the logic of 



JULY 4, l«Sl. 43 

events, and is only a question of time. There 
have been from the earhest ages female sovereigns, 
who have well maintained the honor of their 
government and promoted the prosperity of their 
people. If one were asked to select the three 
most brilliant reigns of England, those of Queens 
Elizabeth, Anne and Victoria would be named, 
embracing a period already of one hundred years. 
The law, keeping pace in the last century with 
the progress of civilization, has ameliorated the civil 
condition of women. The married can now hold 
and manage their separate property, carry on 
business in their own names, hold offices, as well 
as single women. They all now vote in churches 
and business corporations. The high schools, 
colleges, and collegiate courses, the professions, — 
in part as a beginning, — and numerous employ- 
ments for which men compete, are opening to 
them. They have become authors, astronomers, 
educators, and trustees of prison, charity, and 
school boards. In all these capacities they have 
elevated the character and improved the general 
condition of society. In all countries under mo- 
narchical, and even autocratic governments, they 
have a certain influence, more or less extensive, 
in directing public sentiment. In republics, 
where the will of the people is the maker of 



44 ORATION. 

law, thej influentially assist in mouldiiig public 
opinion. As a logical necessity, they will, in the 
natural order of events, be permitted to join in the 
making* of the law. The standard of the law 
and of public office will be made higher by their 
participation, as the queens who have been named 
gave a higher tone and cast to the manners and 
modes of their times. Queen Victoria proved none 
the less an excellent wife and mother, nor has 
she failed in any of the qualities that adorn those 
domestic relations, nor has she exerted any less 
powerful influence in society, for having so long- 
wielded the scepti'e with such queenly grace and 
judgment. If, indeed, our civil war had broken 
out in the reign of George IV. or William IV. 
the probabilities are that either of those kings 
would have made a treaty of friendship and alliance 
with the Southern Confederacy, which would have 
protracted its horrors and postponed the day of the 
supremacy of the republic. But the Queen's moral 
sentiments forbade her giving aid and comfort 
to the eflbrt to found a new government on the 
corner-stone of slavery. 

The growth of our republican system follow^s the 
order of nature, — first the blade, then the ear, then 
the full corn in the ear. The political power was 
given to the men gradually, as here in Massachusetts, 



JULY 4 , 1881. 45 

first to church-members, then to freeholders, then to 
owners of certain personal estate, and, lastly, to poll- 
tax payers with the educational qualification. Here- 
after it will extend to w^omen, more or less gradually, 
until the full fruit is reached; until at last the repub- 
lic, like a pyramid, with its base resting upon the 
united voice of the whole people, without distinction 
of sex, can never be overturned. 

A theory has been formed as a reason against 
female suftrage — founding government on physical 
force; and as men supply all the force in defending 
or maintaining the country, they alone, it is urged, 
should vote. In other words, that bullets and ballots 
should go together. But this will not hold. In the 
first place it would strike out that portion of the 
voting class who are non-combatants, and not subject 
to a draft. Again, no war could be sustained that 
had not the sympathy and moral suj^port of the 
women to a considerable extent, and that did not 
receive their material aid in preparing the clothing, 
and in caring for the sick and wounded. But the 
state of war is not our normal condition, and while 
the women do their proper share in war by their 
care in the camp and hospital, and performing men's 
work at home, in peace they match the men in 
maintaining the social order and well-being of the 
community. It is not true, however, that the govern- 



46 OK A T I O N . 

ment of a republic is founded on force any more 
than the pubhc school is founded on the rod. Such 
a republic would be a house divided against itself, 
and could not stand. Our republic is founded upon 
an organic law, to which the people have given their 
consent as the best they could frame, and under 
which they make such needful laws as they think 
are best calculated to establish liberty and equality. 

If the public voting precincts be maintained, they 
will be more orderly by the presence of women. But 
by making voting a domestic act, to be done at home, 
the adults of the family consulting, there will be a 
more deliberate, more general, more independent, 
more authoritative and incorrupt expression of the 
j)opular will. The practical tact and talent of our 
people in affairs will lead them to adapt their laws to 
the wants of the times, and so get I'id of impending- 
dangers. 

Make voting compulsory, and, at the same time, 
as convenient as possible; forbid, by stringent law, 
or what should serve as well, by a sound public 
opinion, all candidates from contributing money to 
aid their oavu election, or from promising preferment 
in advance to their followers; let all the legiti- 
mate election expenses be paid from the public 
treasury; compensate all official service liberally, as 
becometh a gi'eat and prosperous people, and with 



JULY i, 1881. 47 

the usual choice of good officers, our triplex re- 
publican system will go on continually like the clock 
lubricated with the finest oil, and, like that faith- 
ful monitor, will prove to be the most perfect and 
useful instrument which human ingenuity can de- 
vise. 

When Lafayette — whose prominent part taken 
in the surrender of Yorktown will be eloquently told 
at the coming centennial anniversary by the ]^ation's 
selected orator and our first citizen — assisted in the 
laying of the corner-stone of yonder monument, he 
gave at the festival of the day, on the call of Presi- 
dent Webster, this sentiment : " Bunker Hill, and the 
holy resistance to oppression which has already 
enfranchised the American hemisphere. The next 
half century's jubilee toast shall l:je. To Enfranchised 
Europe." The year 1875 did see France a republic 
for a third time, and, let us hope, forever established. 

But five years after he gave that sentiment, on the 
expulsion of Charles X. from the throne, a deputa- 
tion of citizens waited upon him, to offer him, not 
the presidency of a republic, but the old, giddy 
crown with which the French were still dazed as 
inseparable from their idea of glory. He rejjlied, 
quoting the answer given by the brave but illiterate 
Marshal de Saxe, upon an offer of a seat in the 
Academy: " Cela ni'irait comme une hagne a an 



48 ORATION. 

chat.'''' It is stated by M. Jules Cloquet, in his sou- 
venirs of Lafayette's private life, that after this event 
an English gentleman came over by post from 
London to Paris to see him, and as soon as he had 
paid his visit he departed. Some of his countrymen 
there desired him to tarry with them, but he declined 
their solicitations, telling them, " I wished to see a 
man who has refused a crown. I have seen hmi and 
return satisfied." 

Lafayette was brought up in the school and the 
family of Washington, for whom he felt the highest 
veneration, and after whom he named his only son, 
who accompanied him in his tour of triumph in the 
United States. When asked who he considered 
was the greatest man of the age, he replied, Wash- 
ington. And why? "Because he was the most 
virtuous." He considered goodness the essential 
13art of greatness, whether applied to the individual 
or the state. He was conscious, in 1830, that 
France was not prepared for a republic. She had 
yet to be surfeited with royal and imperial splendor, 
and put in peril by the outrages of the commune. 
But he did what he could to impart order to a 
constitutional monarchy checked by a popular rep- 
resentation. He set on foot many schemes for the 
moral instruction and the useful education of the 
people, which have continued in successful operation. 



J r I. V 4, 1 8s 1. 49 

He loved our country as his own, and was proud of 
her success. He expressed a wish to be buried in 
some of our earth. At his funeral, therefore, amid 
the tears of France, there was the solemn ceremony 
of putting* together the precious earth brought for 
the purpose from our classic fields and his own 
native soil, to surround and guard his immortal clay 
and noble heart. It would seem that France should 
henceforth remain a republic under the guidance of 
her brightest star; and may the time come when 
Lafayette shall be seen amongst us in marble or in 
bronze, by the side of Webster, or of Everett, his in- 
comparable eulogist, to inspire our people still more 
w ith " the love of liberty protected by law." 

Our neighboring sister, the republic of Mexico, has 
showed a strong desire to reciprocate our friendly 
offices in the moral support by which she was 
enabled to throw oif the imperial yoke which ill- 
suited her institutions. The Monroe doctrine, at 
Secretary Seward's suggestion, had potent power to 
induce Louis ]N^apoleon to recall his troops, which 
had no business in Mexico. She has now a stable 
republican government, and she looks forward to a 
glorious future. Inviting most cordially our capital 
and enterprise in establishing the modern modes of 
communication, and promoting reciprocal trade and 
commerce, she will take the commanding position to 



50 ORATION. 

which her resources and her awakened genius will 
entitle her. 

An atrocious crime recently committed, which 
smote the head of a great and most friendly nation, 
recalls to our mind a like enormity iu the mui'der of 
President Lincoln. It is a remarkable coincidence of 
this age, that the rulers of two mighty nations, who 
had both reached the climax of its progress in the 
emancipation of the slaves and serfs in their respec- 
tive countries, should be the victims of foul and most 
ungrateful assassination. The untimely death of 
Alexander II. touches the American heart with 
peculiar sensibility, because there has been a long 
and traditional friendship manifested towards the 
United States on the part of Russia. During the 
war of 1812, — of which there is scarcely a survivor, 
Charles Hudson, of Lexington, an old and time- 
honored public servant, and the brave Colonel Aspin- 
wall, having deceased, and the old Association, of 
which they were the noted leaders, being dissolved 
in the course of nature, — Alexander I. offered to 
England his friendly services as arbiter. Wlien our 
civil war broke out, and France, our old ally, seemed 
inclined to side against us, and our mother England 
was doubtful. Prince Gortchakoff, by command of his 
imperial chief, in an eloquent dispatch asserted the 
importance of the integrity of the United States being 



J r L Y 4 , 1 8 8 1 . 51 

preserved. When our relations with England be-" 
came more critical, from the capture of the Trent, 
and of Mason and Slidell, and a third war seemed 
imminent, the late czar sent his fleet to winter in our 
harbors. We all gratefully remember the moral 
effect of that timely demonstration, and the peculiar 
and touching reception given by Boston to Admiral 
Lessofsky and his brave sailors. Our ties were still 
drawn more close together l^y the treaty for the pur- 
chase of Alaska, our last great possession, carrying 
the sovereignty of our flag to the confines of Asia. 
When an unsuccessful attempt had been before made 
on the czar's life, Congress passed a solemn resolution 
of congratulation upon his escape, and the government 
sent a prominent officer. Captain Fox, Assistant Secre- 
tary of the ^avy, in a national ship, to bear the more 
than friendly message. But now Alexander II. wears, 
with Lincoln, the martyr's crown! If his awful fate 
were the result of a secret permanent organization, the 
world should cry out against it all the more bitterly, 
and the press everywhere should denounce it as a 
foul conspiracy against the civilization of the age. It 
is no way to reform existing wrongs by committing 
the foulest wrong. If this be its natural fruit, IS^ihil- 
ism should itself be annihilated. iS^ot so our fathers 
achieved their immortal glory. If they had so 
plotted, we would not have known this happy day. 



52 O R A T J ( ) N . 

Their proceedingn were open and under duly recog- 
nized forms and legal rules. The records of our 
Continental Congress, and we may say the same of 
the provincial and town records, were authentic and 
regular as those of the British Parliament at that 
time. The commission of Washington as com- 
mander-in-chief was made out in as due and solemn 
a form as was that of General Howe. The example 
of .the United States to the world during its birth 
and illustrious life is that of a republic acquiring and 
maintaining liberty under the certain safeguards and 
sanctions of law. Liberty, to be j)ermanent, must 
ever be founded on that law which emanates from 
the Supreme. 

It might not be a vain chimera to hope that, 
under Providence, the great mission of the United 
States of America is the promotion of interna- 
tional peace. Occupying a commanding conti- 
nental position in the New World, with all the 
experiences and none of the hereditary hindrances 
of the Old, she has the golden opportunity to 
aid in the spread of that gospel of peace and 
good-will which Christ appeared on earth to pro- 
claim. Mindful of the injunction of Washington, 
"In peace prepare for war;" admitting to the full 
the efficiency of military discipline and trained 
subordination, which can all be utilized in the 



J r T. Y 4 , 18 8 1. 53 

organization and uniforming* of police forces, fire 
brigades, the crews of great steamers and ships, 
the employes of all railroads, and even of schools 
and colleges, with the measured tread and martial 
music, and with or without the gun, as you please, 
— for all that, the destructive element of flagrant 
war may be eliminated as a factor in settling 
grave issues between nations. International har- 
mony may be maintained by high courts of arbi- 
tration established by international law. In horrid 
war law does not prevail. Inter anna silent 
leges. War squanders what peace has laid up in 
store. It puts a heavy mortgage on the labors 
and resources of posterity. A series of aggres- 
sive wars would leave the ship of the republic 
to drift into the gulf of despotism. 

If, thirty-one years ago, the people north and 
south, east and west, had been in a temper to 
listen dispassionately to that Seventh of March 
Speech, on which Mr. Webster said he would be 
willing to stake his fame with posterity, which 
he dedicated to the people of Massachusetts with 
the motto: — 

. . Vera pro gratis. . . . Vellem equidem vobis placere : sed 
multo malo vos salvos esse qualicunqiie erga me animo futuri estis, — 

and wherein, with his broad forecast, he demon- 



54 ORATION. 

strated the utter impossibility of a peaceable seces- 
sion, — " Your eyes," said he, '^ Avill never behold 
that miracle;" and wherein also he laid down for 
basis of settlement a proposition to surrender the 
whole domain of the public lands of the United 
States, with the proceeds of what had been already 
sold, in the interest of the South, for freeing and 
transporting their slaves, as they should approve; 
if madness had not ruled the hour so soon after 
the great statesman passed from mortal view, 
when the long compromises of law were disre- 
garded, and the Southern States took up arms 
against their own in the vain hope to make a better 
country; if the cool reason and law-abiding faith 
of the fathers of 177(5 could have resumed its 
sway, — the civil Avar might not have been, but 
gradual emancipation might have been effected in 
the order of Providence, with less loss of treas- 
ure, and without the letting of a drop of fraternal 
blood. 

Oh, if the nations of the Old World would only 
follow our example, and would all agree gradually 
to disarm, until they brought their respective 
armies to our present standard of twenty-five 
thousand men to fifty millions of people, the Earth 
herself, that now supports millions of men in the 
useless habiliments of war, would rejoice to see 



J U L Y 4 , 1 8 8 1 . 55 

by far the greater part remanded to the cultiva- 
tion of her soil, or. to the mechanical arts of in- 
dustry and skill ! 

General Taylor, afterwards President, was known 
to possess the strongest convictions upon the hor- 
rors of war, and to have determined to resign his 
commission when he received the order of his 
government to march his army into Mexico, which 
he felt he was in honor bound to obey. Charles 
Smnner dedicated in youth his life to the pro- 
motion of peace, and after the overthrow of 
slavery he resumed his labors in peaceful recon- 
struction. 

That modest Captain of our country's salvation, 
when he dictated those humane terms at the great 
surrender, giving them "their horses to take home 
to plough," with abundant rations; when, in ac- 
ceding to the presidency, he declared, "Let us 
have peace ; " and, cutting the Gordian knot of the 
entangled diplomacy, by yielding the claim of 
inflamed damages against Great Britain, on which 
all the public men had so much insisted, on account 
of the acknowledgment of the Southern belliger- 
ency, — a point which, under the same circum- 
stances, he would claim for his government, and 
would concede to Great Britain, — he thus averted 
war by arbitration; and again, when in his re- 



5H ORATION. 

nowned tour around the world — a greater triumph 
than any Roman conqueror ever had with all his 
royal captives in his train — he announced that he 
desired to see no brilliant military reviews in his 
honor, reminding him of war, but preferred to 
learn their civil institutions and the nations' pro- 
gress in the arts; and when in the Oriental 
World he sought to bring the diftering govern- 
ments of China and Japan in accord, — he achieved 
splendid victories of peace, no less renowned than 
his unmatched victories in war. 

There is honor always for the brave soldier who 
dies for his country. ■ But those who spend their 
days and nights in developing the arts of peace, 
and showing the world how to profit by them, are 
entitled to equal gratitude. The time will come 
when the humble names of William Ladd the 
founder, and of George C. Beckwith the benefac- 
tor, of the American Peace Society, which has 
already done so much recently, under the lead of 
the late James B. Miles, in establishing peace con- 
ventions and international code committees holding 
their annual meetings in difierent cities in the Old 
World, will be held in grateful remembrance. There 
have been many glorious examples of the beneficence 
of peace, whose names we can readily recall: John 
Lowell, Junior, who, dying at the age of thirty- 



JULY 4, ]SS1. 57 

P 

seven, liberally endowed the Lowell Institute, — the 
best system of diffusing knowledge that had been 
conceived ; Edward Everett, our greater than Tully, 
whose whole unspotted life was one continuous out- 
flow of eloquence in honor of patriotism and learn- 
ing; George Peabody, whose truly original benefac- 
tions in his lifetime, conspicuous in London, and 
scattered all over his native land, have, as any single 
one of them would have, made his name immortal ; 
Horace Mann and Barnas Sears, the inspiring lead- 
ers in Popular Education; Amos Lawrence, who 
for many years stopped the accumulation of his 
earthly possessions, and, laying up treasures in 
heaven, went about doing good; Lemuel Shaw, 
the peer of any lord chancellor England ever had, 
who was the very embodiment of law, in its learn- 
ing and application to the smallest concerns and to 
the widest principles; l^athan Hale, who was the 
pattern of an editor, and taught the press how 
to impart the most varied information and most 
profound views without stirring strife; Thomas H. 
Perkins, who gave sight to the blind; Samuel G. 
Howe, the early friend of Greece, and the educator 
of such helpless unfortunates as Laura Bridgman; 
Louis Agassiz, who, declining the imperial invita- 
tion, and having, as he said, no time to make 
money, watched patiently the process of life in the 



oS ORATION. 

animal kingdom, and taught a generation of teach- 
ers how to observe and instruct ; Josiah Quincy and 
Theodore Ljmian, two of Boston's noblest among 
her line of noble mayors; the three Appletons, 
I^athan, Samuel and William, great manufacturers, 
but greater benefactors; Benjamin Peirce, who 
idealized the highest attainable knowledge, and 
became familiar with the heavens before he was 
translated thither, — these who have all lived 
amongst us, and many, many other kindred spirits, 
who with them now star the skies, were our Ameri- 
can peace-makers, and will be called the blessed 
sons of God. 

Mr. Mayor, there is one kind of artistic com- 
memoration of which Italy has both ancient and 
modern examples, that has not been adopted in 
our country in a distinct, 23ei*manent structure, but 
often is seen in a temporary form on a holiday like 
this. Paris on her finest avenue shows UArc 
de Triomphe. As we would have Boston in truth 
a monumental city, let the suggestion heretofore 
made be carried out, and before the series of 
centennial anniversaries of events connected with 
our early national history shall terminate, let us 
erect on our broad avenue an Arch of Peace, 
which, seen across the sky by light of day, 
or of the moon and stars, shall stand as an ever- 



J U L Y 4 , 1 8 8 ] . 59 

lasting pledge of The Uxion, and of peace and 
friendship with all the world, like that bow of 
promise, with which, when the storm subsides and 
the sun again appears through the clearing 
showers, our - heavenly Father spans the heavens 
in gorgeous beauty in token of his ever-abiding 
love. 

The preamble of the Constitution of the Union 
should be ever kept in view ias our Multum in 
Parvo, our greater than the Magna Charta of 
England : — 

We, the peoj)le of the United States, in order to form a more perfect 
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, ijrovide for the 
common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the bless- 
ings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish 

this CONSTITUTIOK FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

To establish justice was, in the opinion of the 
people of the United States, to lay the corner- 
stone of their republic. President Jefferson -said, 
in his first inaugural address, delivered when party 
spirit ran higher and exhibited more rancor and 
political strife than it has ever since, so that 
Federalists and Republicans thought it necessary 
to have separate celebrations of this anniversary, 
"I believe this is the strongest government on 
earth." So it has proved; for it is that of Liberty 
and Equality, founded on Law. 



60 ORATION. 

It is the duty and the problem of a hfe in 
the repnbhc to keep up to the high requirements 
of American citizenship. Are there any of our coun- 
trymen abroad hving in idle extravagance, the 
by-word of American prodigality, abusing their 
country and its government? Let them take 
shame to themselves in season, lest in a few fleet- 
ing years they reap, for harvest, the swinish husks 
of their neglected field. Their country can spare 
them better than they can afford to stifle the 
noble aspirations which should attach them to 
their native land. 

It is said we have no loyalty. It is hoped we 
may never be infatuated with pageantry and pomp. 
But we have shown ourselves loyal to great ideas 
and noble principles, and the women or the men, 
who live as best exponents of these, will never be 
without honor, even in their own country. The 
real spring of loyalty is the National heart, and 
the world hears ours heat to-day, in throbbing 
anguish and filial love. 

The true test of a nation, and of an individual, 
is how to bear defeat. The republic has bad 
its griefs as well as its glories. The monuments 
around us attest how often the nation has been 
called to mourn. One of our poetesses has said : — 

The seed will spring up which is watered by tears. 



J U L Y 4 , 1 8 8 1 . 61 

The tears which were shed over the graves of 
Washington, and of Lincoln, and of many ilhistri- 
ous statesmen and patriots in each generation; over 
the graves of those vrho died in defence of their 
country, — yes, even of those who, under a false 
education, were brought up to love their section 
better and fought against their country, but whom 
she has quite forgiven, in the joy of reunion, — 
these flowing together in sympathetic sorrow 
have drenched the American soil, and nurtured 
the Tree of Liberty, so that its roots and tendrils 
seek the earth's centre, and its massive growth 
rises and spreads out to the clouds, giving shelter 
to the whole republic, amid the song of birds 
that lodge and sport in its ever green branches. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the City 
Council, fellow-citizens all, — as we shall break up 
this patriotic assembly, and passing in the bright sun- 
light shall behold our own love and pride of country 
mirrored in the faces that fill our streets and beautiful 
squares, tinged with the shadow of the overhanging 
cloud, let us bear home this lesson of the hour. In 
grateful return for our priceless and equal heritage, 
the highest service we can render is a good and use- 
ful life. However humble our lot and station, we 
may adorn it with that fidelity in little things, which 
by Divine law leads to rulership over many. As we 



62 ORATION. 

turn the crank of daily toil, or of professional or 
official labor, we will keep the candle of the spirit 
lighted, to brighten the inner, higher life. We will 
search our First Centennial Volume, and will strive 
to imitate the many great examples it contains, and 
we will not withhold the admiration due to the 
patriotic labors of the living, nor will we indulge 
in the dangerous spirit of detraction. Let us inspire 
those around us, with all the magnetic power that 
comes from earnestness, with an abiding Faith in 
God, a sure and steadfast Hope for our Country, 
and with Love for the Universal ^Neighborhood. 
And may those of our blood and kin, mingling with 
congenial elements, and forming ever a homogeneous 
race, celebrate the return of Lidependence Day from 
generation to generation, till Time shall be no more. 



& Ap '09 



Our Republic— Liberty and Equality founded on Law, 



ORATION 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



ill) iDitiitil ;m^ iili^tiis of Pusltrn, 

IN THE BOSTON THEATRE, 




OXE HUNDRED AND FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION 
OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 

JULY 4, 18 81. 



BY 



(tEORGE WASHINGTON AVAEREN. 




§ s t n : 

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 

MBCCCLXXXI. 

IXDEPENDEXCE OF THE U.S. (JVf. 



c E i'^i 



^ 



